PROJECT BLACK SEA TRADENET DOING BUSINESS WITH TURKEY BUĞRA KAHRAMAN – TRABZON CHAMBER OF COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY WORKSHOP DOBRICH, BULGARIA, 13-14 MARCH 2012 COUNTRY PROFILE Official name: TURKEY Flag and coat of arms: Legal system: Turkey is a republican parliamentary democracy and constitutional state. The Turkish Grand National Assembly (“TGNA”) forms the unicameral legislature. There are 550 deputies elected every 5 years to the TGNA, but the parliament can decide to call elections before then, or postpone elections for up to one year in case of war. Elections are single stage and use proportional representation. Geographical location: Turkey is situated in Anatolia and the Balkans, bordering the Black Sea, between Bulgaria and Georgia, and bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea, between Greece and Syria. It is located in the northern hemisphere between the 36º - 42º northern parallel and the 26º - 45º eastern meridian. Frontiers: The territory of Turkey is more than 1,600 kilometers long and 800 km wide, with a roughly rectangular shape. Turkey has land borders of 269 km with Bulgaria, 203 km with Greece, 276 km with Georgia, 325 km with Armenia, 18 km with Azerbaijan (Nahjivan), 529 km. with Iran, 378 km with Iraq and 877 km with Syria. 1
COUNTRY PROFILE Area: Turkey's area, including lakes, occupies 783,562 square kilometers (300,948 sq. mi), of which 755,688 square kilometers (291,773 sq. mi) are in Southwest Asia and 23,764 square kilometers (9,174 sq. mi) in Europe. Relief: Examination of Turkey's topographic structure on a physical map of the world shows clearly the country's high elevation in comparison to its neighbours, half of the land area being higher than 1000 meters and two thirds higher than 800 meters. Waters : Anatolian peninsula covers a large area of Turkey, approximately 97% of the total area. It's generally a high plateau covered with several high mountains and mountain ranges especially in the east of the country. The existence of many valleys and high mountains, snow precipitation and therefore its melting in the Spring, and the climate of different regions favour the formation of lakes and rivers. The main rivers are; Fırat is 2.800km, Dicle is 1.900km, Kızılırmak is 1355km, Yeşilırmak is 519km, Büyük Menderes is 584km. Climate: The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Aegean Sea and the Mediterranean Sea have a temperate Mediterranean climate, with hot, dry summers and mild to cool, wet winters. The coastal areas of Turkey bordering the Black Sea have a temperate Oceanic climate with warm, wet summers and cool to cold, wet winters. COUNTRY PROFILE Natural resources: As a result of the geological structure it is sitting upon, our country is one of the rare countries in the world that can supply a significant portion of its own raw material requirements thanks to the diversity of its minerals. It is ranked 28th in the world in terms of total mining production and 10th in terms of the diversity of mines produced. Turkey is among the leading reserve-rich countries in the world starting with boron, trona, bentonite, marble, feldspar, mangesite, limestone, pumice stone, perlite, strontium and calcite. Oficial language: Turkish is the official language of Turkey. Time zone: Turkey is in the Eastern European Time Zone. Eastern European Standard Time (EET) is 2 hours ahead of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT+2) Religion: Turkey is officially a secular country with no official religion since the constitutional amendment in 1924. Islam is the largest religion of Turkey. Around 99.8% of the population is registered as Muslim (mostly Sunni), followed by other religions as Christians (Oriental Orthodoxy, Greek Orthodox and Armenian Apostolic) and Jews (Sephardi). Currency: The Turkish currency is called Turkish Lira (TL 1), which was introduced, instead of New Turkish Lira as from 1 January 2009. Measuring system : The standard metric system has been accepted in 1931 within the law of “Measurements and Adjustments” and being applied since 1933. 2
COUNTRY PROFILE Administrative organisation : The foundation and principles of the Turkish government are based on Central Administration and Local Administration concepts. Accordingly, the administrative structure of the Turkish Republic is divided into two, namely `Central Administration” and “Local Administrative Institutions”. Central administration: The organization of the Central Administration in the capital consists of the President of the Republic, the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister, the Ministries and other auxiliary bodies such as the State Council, the Court of Accounts, and the National Security Council. In Turkey there are three kinds of provincial administrations: province, county, and district. There are 81 provinces in Turkey. Local government organizations: These are public legal personalities that have been established outside Central Government to meet the common needs of provincial, municipal, and village residents. They have separate legal personalities from that of the State; a certain degree of autonomy; and their members are locally elected. National holiday and other legal holidays: Eight official holidays in Turkey are established by the Act 2429 of March 19, 1981 that replaced the Act 2739 of May 27, 1935. COUNTRY PROFILE History and civilisation Turkish Migration Before the Turkish settlement, the local population of Anatolia had reached an estimated level of 12 to 14 million people during the late Roman Period. The migration of Turks to the country of modern Turkey occurred during the main Turkish migration across most of Central Asia and into Europe and the Middle East which was between the 6th and 11th centuries. Mainly Turkish people living in the Seljuk Empire arrived Turkey in the eleventh century. The Seljuks proceeded to gradually conquer the Anatolian part of the Byzantine Empire. In the following centuries, the local population began to be assimilated into the Turkish people. More Turkish migrants began to intermingle with the local inhabitants over years, thus the Turkish-speaking population was bolstered. Seljuq Dynasty The House of Seljuk was a branch of the Kınık Oğuz Turks who resided on the periphery of the Muslim world, north of the Caspian and Aral Seas in the Yabghu Khaganate of the Oğuz confederacy in the 10th century. In the 11th century, the Turkic people living in the Seljuk Empire started migrating from their ancestral homelands towards the eastern regions of Anatolia, which eventually became a new homeland of Oğuz Turkic tribes following the Battle of Manzikert on August 26, 1071. 3
COUNTRY PROFILE History and civilisation (continuation) The victory of the Seljuks gave rise to the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum, a separate branch of the larger Seljuk Empire and to some Turkish principalities (beyliks), mostly situated towards the Eastern Anatolia which were vassals of or at war with Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. Ottoman Dynasty The Ottoman beylik's first capital was located in Bursa in 1326. Edirne which was conquered in 1361[15] was the next capital city. After largely expanding to Europe and Anatolia, in 1453, the Ottomans nearly completed the conquest of the Byzantine Empire by capturing its capital, Constantinople during the reign of Mehmed II. This city has become the capital city of the Empire following Edirne. The Ottoman Empire would continue to expand into the Eastern Anatolia, Central Europe, the Caucasus, North and East Africa, the islands in the Mediterranean, Greater Syria, Mesopotamia, and the Arabian peninsula in the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries. The Treaty of Karlowitz in 1699 marked the beginning of the Ottoman decline. Treaty of Sèvres on August 10, 1920 by Allied Powers, which was never ratified. The Treaty of Sèvres would break up the Ottoman Empire and force large concessions on territories of the Empire in favour of Greece, Italy, Britain and France. COUNTRY PROFILE Republic of Turkey The occupation of some parts of the country by the Allies in the aftermath of World War I prompted the establishment of the Turkish national movement. Under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal, a military commander who had distinguished himself during the Battle of Gallipoli, the Turkish War of Independence was waged with the aim of revoking the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres. By September 18, 1922, the occupying armies were expelled. On November 1, the newly founded parliament formally abolished the Sultanate, thus ending 623 years of Ottoman rule. The Treaty of Lausanne of July 24, 1923, led to the international recognition of the sovereignty of the newly formed "Republic of Turkey" as the successor state of the Ottoman Empire, and the republic was officially proclaimed on October 29, 1923, in the new capital of Ankara. Mustafa Kemal became the republic's first President of Turkey and subsequently introduced many radical reforms with the aim of founding a new secular republic from the Ottoman past. 4
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